Healing Together
by ktmossman0
Summary: Percy Jackson finds out that Annabeth has been cheating on him, and not long after, he is betrayed by all his friends and family. After he Leaves Camp Half-blood he finds that there is one person who seems to care about him and can relate to his pain. He begins to form an unlikely friendship with Hera, but will that eventually become something more?
1. Chapter 1

Percy Jackson sat on the ground alone by the stream in the woods of camp half-blood. He stared into the water sadly not thinking about the water but about what had happened to him. He sighed as he decided that he couldn't take the pain any longer and that although the camp had once been a home for him it had started to feel more like a prison and Percy felt more like some kind of criminal.

You are probably wondering what happened, well his story was rather simple, while he had been at camp Jupiter thanks to Hera Annabeth had moved on deciding that she no longer loved Percy and cheated on him with a son of Hermes. As anyone with a brain would expect Percy was heartbroken when he learned of her betrayal and his pain was even worse than what an average demigod or mortal would feel due to his fatal flaw of personal loyalty.

During their reunion and the quest that followed Annabeth had just pretended that she still loved him when in reality she had put him behind her a couple months before. Even when they fell into Tartarus she had kept up her charade, sure she hadn't wanted him to die down there if nothing else she needed his help to survive the pit and then the rest of the quest and the battle that would follow.

When the news that they were no longer together came out Annabeth made everyone think that Percy had been the one that cheated. She had fooled basically all the campers and now Percy hadn't been kicked out but he was ignored and shunned as if he was carrying a contagious disease Percy couldn't understand why everyone had believed her after all, his fatal flaw was loyalty for Poseidon's sake.

That meant he would never deliberately do anything to hurt someone he cared about. And even if it wasn't his mother had raised him to be a better man than that. He would never use someone until he got tired of them and then cast them aside as if he didn't give a dam about them. As he stared into the clear blue water of the stream he came to a decision, he wouldn't deal with the other campers any longer he was going to leave camp and do his best to survive on his own.

He knew that wouldn't be easy since monsters would be able to find him easily after he left but he didn't want to stay at camp surrounded by constant reminders of what was no longer his. Percy sighed before returning to his cabin to pack his things before he left a note to Chiron on his bed, walked out of the cabin door with most of his things and headed toward half-blood hill. As he reached the top he patted Peleus on the head, said a quick goodbye and walked past the borders of the camp that he had considered a second home for so many years.

-time skip-

Percy had been out on his own for not even a day and he had already run into quite a few monsters. Percy really did care for his dad, but sometimes being his son seemed like a curse. He would just kill one group of monsters and then another group would find him not long after. He kind of envied his cousin for his ability to conceal himself in the shadows but there was nothing he could do about it, he had made the decision to leave camp and he didn't want to go back.

He sat by the fire he had lit as what had happened to him flooded back into his mind. He'd tried not to think about it and tried to push away the pain but he just couldn't, it would always return leaving him in such anguish that few people could ever relate to his agony. He was sure that this pain was worse than anything that could be inflicted by a weapon. Since when thoughts of her flooded his mind he was usually left incapacitated too distracted by the pain and sorrow that he could barely defend himself.

For the moment, Percy was at Montauk beach. He had always loved going there with his mother, and although he couldn't get into the cabin that they would usually stay in it was kind of comforting to just be there, a place he had always felt at home near his father's domain. Before long though, it became clear that Percy's peace would only be temporary.

As he was just considering turning in for the night he heard a loud roar and sighed. Another monster had found him, and based on the sound of that roar he guessed it was a pretty powerful one. Sure, enough he was faced with a monster that he honestly wasn't sure if he would be able to defeat. The last time he had faced it he had the help of four others, this time though he was on his own and he really didn't know if he would be able to win this fight.

Before him stood the Nemean Lion. The only real advantage he had was that he was in his element near the sea. Honestly, though Percy wasn't sure how much help that would be against the large metal wildcat. He thought hard trying to come up with a plan to defeat it. After he came up with one he yelled at the monster making sure that he had its attention. He then ran straight for the sea the Nemean lion following behind him.

Percy was surprised by how far it was willing to follow him. It followed him until it was up to its ankles in the water. Percy rose from the water standing on a wave, the monster, less eager to come after him now, stayed where it was, probably hoping that he would come toward it so it wouldn't have to go any further. Percy granted its wish, but not in the way the monster was probably hoping for. He quite literally rode his wave straight toward the metal monster. Due to the height of the wave, Percy was easily able to strike at the monster's face with riptide.

Percy stabbed the oversized cat ln the mouth before removing his sword as the monster disappeared leaving only it's pelt behind. He let his wave fade back into the sea before walking over to the pelt and picking it up. As much as the pelt would be useful considering that it could protect him from practically anything he didn't really want to keep it. It reminded him of Zoe Nightshade, and that jerk Heracles. Other than riptide he didn't want to carry something that Heracles had once carried.

Percy hated how Heracles had treated Zoe so he didn't want to have anything to do with him, Riptide being an exception of course. If he wasn't going to keep it, then what was he going to do with it? Well, Percy hadn't decided yet, after all, he wasn't even sure what he was going to do now that he was out on his own. He couldn't stay with his mother, he would just be putting her in danger and he just couldn't risk her or Paul getting hurt.

So, Percy decided that since he wasn't going to use it he decided to sacrifice the pelt to one of the gods. He could sacrifice it to his dad in hopes of more help in the future, but something made him choose someone else, someone he could relate to right now. Honestly, Percy could sympathize with Hera right now, she'd had to live with Zeus's constant cheating for centuries.

He knew that she had taken her anger out on the women he had cheated with more than once, and sometimes taken it out on the children that were born due to his cheating. Other than that, though Percy couldn't understand why she had stayed with Zeus. He supposed that it was at least partially due to the fact that the goddess of marriage getting a divorce wouldn't exactly look good. For all, he knew she might still have some feelings for Zeus, although it wasn't really any of his business he couldn't help but wonder how she could live with the pain.


	2. Chapter 2

Percy had been angry at Hera for a while during and after his quest with the rest of the seven because she had taken him away from Annabeth without even telling him what she planned to do. Eventually, though he realized that she was just doing what she thought was best in order to save the world from Gaea since Zeus had refused to acknowledge that she was rising and turned a blind eye. Even though he had let go of his anger Percy couldn't help but wonder, if Hera had used someone else for her plan instead of him would anything be different? Would he and Annabeth still be together? He didn't know, and he guessed that he probably never would.

This didn't stop Percy from feeling sympathy and empathizing with the goddess whose love life was in an even worse state than his own. While Percy didn't completely agree with Hera's views on families he still decided to sacrifice the pelt to her.

Returning to the fire that he had been sitting by before the Nemean Lion showed up Percy sat down, tossed the Nemean Lion's pelt into the flames and sacrificed it to Hera without asking for anything in return. Percy wasn't expecting any gifts from Hera, or for her to even acknowledge his gift, so the young demigod was slightly surprised when after the pelt had disappeared he saw a flash of white light not far from where he sat.

When the light faded away, the goddess he had sacrificed to only moments before stood not far away from him. He quickly stood and bowed saying, "Lady Hera,"

Hera spoke for the first time since she arrived there, she said, "Thank you Perseus, I almost never get sacrifices, the Romans do occasionally sacrifice to my Roman aspect," her form shifted for a moment a goatskin cloak appearing on her shoulders, a staff with a lotus flower on the top appeared in her hand, her features also became sterner. She quickly shifted back and continued speaking, "Once upon a time I received many sacrifices from mortals who hoped that I would bless their marriage so it would be successful. Now though I haven't received a sacrifice in many years. I can't help but wonder, Why? After all, the last time we spoke you weren't exactly pleased with me."

Percy was silent for a moment before he finally spoke choosing his words carefully so he wouldn't anger Hera, "I have come to realize that you were only doing what you thought was best to defeat Gaea and save your family. While I sometimes wonder if things would have turned out differently if Annabeth and I had those eight months together I no longer blame you since I might have done the same thing if I was in your position."

Hera seemed somewhat surprised by Percy's words but before she could say anything Percy continued. He said, "I feel as though I can relate to you to some degree. Nothing I've been through compares to the pain of Annabeth cheating on me. Even after that, I can't even imagine what you have to deal with because of Zeus. I've been wondering, "Why haven't you left him? How do you deal with the pain?"

It felt good to finally tell someone how he felt since everyone else would just tell him to move on since they couldn't understand how much it hurt. Like most demigods, sometimes he wished he was just a mortal clueless to the fact that the gods exist. It would be a lot easier if he was but unfortunately for Percy he wasn't, he was a demigod son of Poseidon with the fatal flaw of personal loyalty and that flaw made moving on much harder. Percy couldn't help but be nervous though, had he gone too far by prying into Hera's personal life?

Percy watched Hera apprehensively nervous that he had gone too far and angered the goddess that he thought he had just made peace with for the most part.

Hera's expression changed from stoic to what looked like a mixture of pain, anger, and sadness. Percy guessed that the anger wasn't directed at him but at Zeus for his womanizing ways. When Hera spoke, her voice held more emotion than Percy had ever heard in it. She said, "I gave him chance after chance until I finally realized that he wasn't going to change. By the time, I realized the truth it was too late, all the gods that remained were either his illegitimate children or just as bad as he is."

Hera's voice sounded like she was somewhere between yelling in anger and crying her eyes out. She said, "I couldn't simply end it and wait until someone better came along because I am the goddess of marriage, I have to be married, and the shock of ending a marriage that lasted over a thousand years would be too much. I eventually stopped loving him, but there was no point leaving him for someone who wouldn't be any better."

Much to Percy's shock, it seemed that Hera had finally settled on one of the emotions that were previously battling within her because shockingly the normally stoic goddess was straight out crying. Out of instinct, Percy hurried closer to her to try and comfort her. She accepted his comfort letting her tears soak into Percy's shirt.

After she finally stopped crying Percy hurriedly apologized saying, "I'm sorry I didn't mean-

He stopped midsentence as Hera raised her hand to stop him.

She said that he didn't need to apologize. She told him that he was one of her favourite demigod heroes despite the disagreements they'd had in the past. Hera shocked Percy once again when she decided to reward him regardless of the fact that he hadn't asked her for anything when he'd sacrificed the pelt to her. Much to Percy's surprise Hera gave him a tent so he wouldn't have to sleep on the ground, and gave him her partial blessing.

Not long after that Hera left and Percy was still trying to wrap his head around everything that had just happened. At first, he thought he had imagined it all but the fact that his shirt was still slightly damp, and the tent that was sitting on the ground not far away from him was enough evidence to convince him that he hadn't imagined it. Even once he accepted that fact he still couldn't quite understand why Hera had done everything she had.

He hadn't expected her to even come when he sacrificed to her much less thank him, spill some of her personal information, and then reward him. Hera was supposed to hate demigods, but based on what she had told him there must be a few that she liked since she had said that he was one of those few. Percy had to admit that Hera was beautiful with her brown eyes, regal features, black hair, and womanly figure. She wasn't fat by any means but she wasn't extremely skinny either. Percy stopped that train of thought before it could go any further and mentally chastised himself thinking, knock it off you shouldn't be thinking like that, she's married to Zeus, she's practically your aunt. Despite all that Percy couldn't help but think that by being the womanizer that he is Zeus was seriously missing out. Based on Hera's odd behaviour Percy couldn't help but wonder, was there another side to Hera that most people didn't know about?

Hera knew that she wouldn't normally be so generous to a demigod even if they weren't a child of her husband. The reason why she disliked most demigods so much was that they were usually the result of gods disregarding her domain like it meant nothing. Some gods were worse than others but she couldn't help but get angry when new demigods arrived at the camps, the hunters of Artemis, and even the Amazons.

When Zeus and their brothers had taken the oath not to have any more demigod children Hera already suspected that they would most likely break it sooner or later. She had to admit she was kind of surprised that Hades actually kept his oath. Sure, he wasn't as bad as some of the other gods but he still strayed from time to time. Hera had come to realize a while ago that Zeus and Poseidon were unable to remain faithful for long.

Hera didn't quite know why she had told Perseus everything that she had, she so rarely confided in anyone. Sometimes she would speak to Hestia or Demeter, but neither of them could really understand since they weren't in the same situation as her, and obviously, she couldn't say anything to Zeus they would just end up having an argument and she really didn't want to hear any more of his lies.

She supposed she told Perseus everything that she had because he could understand what she was dealing with. She also knew that despite their quarrels in the past Hera liked Perseus, she supposed it was due to his fatal flaw since he would do practically anything to protect his family and friends, and since she was the goddess of marriage and family she knew she would do the same for anyone she considered part of her family.

She also guessed that his fatal flaw meant that he would remain faithful to anyone he chose to be with. She had to admit that he was rather handsome, he was the spitting image of his father with his black hair and sea green eyes, he was also muscular but not overly so. Hera shoved those thoughts aside, she had just been surprised that he had sacrificed to her since had thought that he didn't really like her, especially now after the giant war was over. She was grateful for his sacrifice, especially since no-one had sacrificed anything to her in quite a few years, and the Nemean Lion's pelt was a rather large sacrifice. She still wondered why Perseus hadn't just kept the pelt for himself since that's what any other demigod would have done but she hadn't asked and he hadn't told her either.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a few days since Percy Jackson left Camp Half-Blood, he still couldn't understand why basically the entire camp had listened to what Annabeth had said about him, she was the one that had cheated on him, not the other way around. Another thing that still didn't really make much sense was how Hera had acted the other day when she had visited him. He hadn't expected her to be so…nice.

Percy simply traveled, killing any monsters he encountered and fending for himself. He wasn't quite sure what else to do, he certainly wasn't going back to Camp Half-Blood, and although camp Jupiter might still welcome him back into their ranks he really didn't want to go to either of the camps at that point. Camp Half-Blood hated him and Camp Jupiter would ask too many questions.

He hadn't tried to contact any of his friends that hadn't betrayed him and he didn't plan to for a while, if nothing else he needed time alone, or at least that's what he thought.

Hera was sitting through a council meeting, honestly, the almost constant bickering that took place at every meeting got on her nerves since she had basically given up arguing with her husband about his constant cheating. In fact, it hadn't been that long since she'd found out that her husband had another demigod child. This had angered her as always and part of her wanted to confront her husband again, but she knew it was pointless, he would never change his habits so there really wasn't any point in arguing with him. Not only that but She had gotten tired of getting the same lies and excuses in response every time they fought.

She could hear a heated argument going on between Poseidon and Athena, at first, she was just going to ignore the two since they often argued about Medusa and Athens.

Hera paid more attention however when she heard Athena mention the name Perseus. After she paid more attention to their argument Hera was sure that they were arguing about Perseus Jackson. Once she paid more attention she realized that Athena was letting her pride get in the way of her 'wisdom' Athena was clearly accepting what her daughter had told her instead of being logical and realizing that her daughter had clearly lied since Percy's fatal flaw was loyalty and he would have never cheated on her daughter.

Hera decided that someone would have to warn Percy about the furious wisdom goddess, after all, it seemed that she might try to find Percy to punish him. Sooner or later Athena would have to realize and accept the truth, but who knows how long that might take. Hera Decided to warn the young hero herself. She suspected that once he stopped bickering with Athena Poseidon would probably contact Percy and warn him one way or another but Hera also suspected that it would be a little while before they would stop arguing.

Hera didn't think of that possibility, but she might have just been using warning him about Athena as an excuse to see Percy again. She knew he could relate to her situation better than most of the other people she knew and secretly she had enjoyed spending some time with him, even if it led to her having to recall the reasons for her pain and anger.

When she went to see Percy so she could warn him about Athena she told him what she'd heard at the meeting and she also told him about a way that he could conceal himself from the other gods, only she would be able to recognize him since she had been the one to help him hide himself. When he said that he had decided that he would help any demigods he encountered get to the camps safely she wasn't exactly thrilled but she also didn't try to talk him out of it.

She understood he wanted to have something to do since he wouldn't be returning to his mother. Hera knew that he planned on visiting her eventually, so she would know that he was okay. He didn't intend to stay though since he wanted to protect her, and he would be putting her in danger by staying for too long.

There had been times when Hera wished that she had different domains, or at least that things could have happened differently, so she wouldn't have fallen for Zeus' tricks so many years ago. Sure, their marriage had seemed fine at first until Zeus eventually strayed. When she had learned of his unfaithfulness she had been furious and devastated because she loved him despite the fact he had basically tricked her into marrying him.

Due to this, she had taken her anger out on the women who were unfortunate enough to have been with her husband. At first, she had believed her husband when he said he would change, but before long she'd realized that she'd been foolish to do so.

It soon became evident that her husband had no desire to remain faithful to her and would simply impregnate basically any woman he found attractive. Obviously, this left Hera hurt and furious. If Zeus had even loved her to begin with she was certain that he no longer did. As the years went by Hera's feelings for Zeus eventually died but due to marriage being one of her domains she was stuck in a marriage she was no longer happy in.

Technically she could end it at any time but if she did she would not be able to remain unmarried for very long, if she was to end it now she would have to remarry soon afterward so she was stuck with Zeus since she hadn't yet found anyone who would treat her properly and treat her domain like it should be treated.

Marriage is something that requires the effort of both people involved to last, and Hera began wondering if she would ever find anyone who could replace Zeus, or if she would be stuck with her cheating husband until she eventually faded. Hera secretly hoped she wouldn't have to put up with Zeus for the rest of her days, but she didn't know who could possibly fit her standards.

Days became weeks as Percy remained out on his own, helping demigods find their way to the camps or the hunters. Far too often the demigods he helped were abused by the people who were supposed to love them and raise them properly. Obviously, this always bothered Percy, but he told himself that they would eventually get what they deserved once they died and went to the underworld.

Percy was glad that he was able to help the demigods since basically all of them hadn't been as lucky as him. He'd grown up with a mother who loved him and although his first stepfather was a lazy disgusting douchebag who had abused his mom, it could have been much worse. After all, some of the demigods Percy helped were abused, and he'd rescued them from some nasty situations.

Occasionally Hera would come and visit him, and they would talk about many different things, but there were some subjects that Percy would usually try to avoid since he really didn't want to annoy Hera. One of those subjects was Heracles, or any of Zeus' other demigod children for that matter, although she seemed to be okay with Jason.

This strategy eventually became a problem though when Hera eventually asked why he'd chosen to sacrifice the Nemean lion's pelt when he could have kept it and used it to help protect himself. He decided to tell her the truth and hope for the best, after all his answer would make it obvious that he didn't like Heracles either so maybe Hera wouldn't get mad.

Percy admitted, "It reminds me of Heracles, and I hate how he treated Zoe Nightshade, I don't want to use anything that used to belong to him. I know my sword used to belong to him, but that's the only exception,"

Although Hera didn't exactly like hearing about Heracles, she didn't get mad at Percy. She just disliked being reminded of one of the many times her husband had cheated on her. It was obvious that Percy didn't like Heracles either, and she wouldn't blame Percy for telling her the truth. Out of all of Zeus's children, Heracles was probably the one Hera hated the most.

She still despised him. she'd never agreed with him becoming a god, or with him marrying her daughter Hebe. The only reason the ancient Greeks thought she had was because she had stopped trying to ruin his life. She had basically just been forced to accept him when the rest of the council outvoted her.

As she continued speaking to Percy, they quickly changed the subject away from the minor god they both despised. After she eventually left Hera decided she would occasionally check on Percy just so she'd know if he was safe. She liked him, she thought he was the most loyal hero she'd ever seen. The daughter of Athena had been incredibly foolish to cheat on him.

Weeks turned into months as Percy stayed out on his own, He did eventually Iris message some of the few friends who didn't hate him. He also Briefly visited His mom and Paul just so they'd know he was okay. Occasionally Hera would visit him, and they would talk about many things. At first, they just saw each other as friends, but as time went on that started to become something more even if they hadn't realized it yet.

 **A/N I apologize for taking so long on this part of it was that I had really bad writer's block on this story and the rest was that a lot has happened in my life since I started my story. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long.**


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